the fragments of that faceted universe
by Ten-Faced
Summary: now have a space, a place for them to shine. Vocaloid drabbles, short stories, ideas thrown around and just a few things bouncing around in my head. 5. The Beast. /and once upon a time, Teto was not a dragon/ implied LongyaxQingxian
1. The Wonderland

**1. The Wonderland**

Inspired by: The Song, _Mr. Alice_.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Pairing: KaitoxMiku, extremely vague, unnamed KiyoteruxMeiko.

* * *

"So you were lost…" he mused as he poured the strange tea into the cracked china teacups. "Wonderland is not a place where the lost are fortunate enough to survive. You were lucky. Or _unlucky_, if you look at it right!" he cackled at the end of that sentence.

Miku gripped the edge of her skirt. He was an odd man, this strange blue-haired man with the crumpled suit and old, stained hat. At times, his voice would be the pleasant, caring voice that attracted her, but at other instants, he would become strangely erratic, on the borderline of insanity as his voice dipped low and swung high.

That part of his unique personality attracted her just as much to him as the other side of him.

"Tea, dear?" he offered her a pink teacup and a golden saucer. Mismatched, like his clothes. The table's other guests sat, playing cards with each other.

"Thank you," she murmured, accepting the hot drink. The first drink of this tea was sweet like honey, but in her mouth it would morph into slight bitterness like herbs, and then to the tart sourness of berries, before moving onto some other flavour before she swallowed it.

"You're welcome," he beamed, and the others muttered in something she didn't catch. "Oh, hush, children!"

The 'mouse', a black haired boy with the low-hanging ears of that animal, rolled his sleepy golden eyes. "Shut up, Hatter."

"Please do," agreed the silver haired, dual eyed rabbit. "No one likes your voice, anyways."

"I do," she blurted out. Three pairs of curious eyes sat on her, and she blushed crimson. "Well, I do…" she muttered, and gulped her tea.

The card players went back to their game, but the last pair of sapphire eyes stayed on her as their owner, too, drank his tea.

The Hatter finally looked away, breaking eye contact, and she breathed out the air she didn't know she'd been holding. Those eyes kept her on edge, filling her body with what felt like electric awareness. Flight or fight, only she didn't know what to do, and whom to.

"This place," he said, toying with a handkerchief. "It's all a game, and one person is in control of all the pieces, except you."

"The Red Queen?" Miku guessed, pulling the name of the monarch from something the Cheshire Cat, with her pink hair and playful tricks, had told her in one of her riddles.

"No," The Hatter told her, pouring another cup of tea. "She's a game piece, just like the rest of us, mourning her dead King when she's not busy being the executor of this place. That person is Alice, dear Miku."

"I don't understand," Miku interrupted. "You… you and all the others... they called me Alice, and now you're telling me that I'm in control."

"Another Alice, maybe, but not you," the rabbit muttered, laying his hand down in front of the mouse.

"You're _our_ Alice," the Hatter told her, leaning forward to close a lot of the distances between their faces. Closer up, she saw just how his eyes shone with mad brilliance. "The Alice at the palace is a brat."

He then leaned back into his chair and chuckled. "'The Alice at the palace'!" he laughed. "That rhymed!"

Miku lifted the chipped china cup to her lips and drank some more tea, waiting for him to recover.

"No one has a name here, Miku," he told her, using her real name. "We have roles to play, to act out and pretend to be. We have masks, but we don't have faces. It's nothing but a farce, a play we put on, and we hate it."

"I had a name," the mouse admitted, taking a bite of cake. "But now… now it's under lock. I can't quite remember it."

"No one can," the Hatter sang softly. "No one except our Wonderland Alice."

Miku fidgeted. "So what do I do?"

"Kill the other Alice," the rabbit offered.

"Stab the sadistic, crazy bitch," suggested the mouse.

The Hatter waved a hand. "Gentlemen, be… gentle," he ordered. "No, Miku, all we ask is that you free us."

She tried to meet those sky-like eyes, the orbs of blue that made her feel like she was trying to take in the entire ocean and the sky all at once. "How do I do that?"

"You could try what we said," the mouse shrugged.

The Hatter, ignoring his companion, leaned in once more. "Do what you think," he whispered.

It sent shivers down her spine.

* * *

_And later, when she _did_ end up killing the other Alice, the one who she could only call 'Alice' because she didn't know her name, there was only the madman who stayed with her after the grand party to tell her, crooning in her ear that it was alright, that it was okay, even if it wasn't._

And she felt a lot better.


	2. The Dreamer

**2. The Dreamer**

Inspired by: The Song, _A Realistic Logical Ideologist_.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Pairing: Mentioned KaitoxMiku, GakupoxLuka, and hidden NigaitoxGumi.

* * *

She'd been watching him for a long time with her all-seeing eyes.

At first, he'd been one of many, that blue-haired prince who had been cheated out of his throne, his country, his rightful inheritance. It was all the people surrounding him could do to keep him safe from the probing searches of the thieves, and that drew her sight and interest in.

_What fate will you walk, little hero-to-be? Or would you rather wait, become one in a line that waits?_

His paths, all so diverse and thin, the maybe's and what if's and all the uncertain, they shrank down until he passed over one, and the ones left behind shrank down and disappeared, never to be treaded upon by the feet of his fate.

He met new friends, new acquaintances, new rivals, new enemies. He met old ones, too. He even met a love, a lovely little maiden with magic and greenish blue, bluish green hair tied in two with a pretty ribbon.

In hard times, he seemed rather happy in her eyes.

The dreamer watched, twirling a lock of her strawberry-tinted hair that should have been pale gold or light silver, but no one could tell because it changed in the light.

It wasn't just the blue prince and the teal maiden mage she watched. She watched a warrior who was sworn to a queen be torn in his duty when he met a mage that was dedicated to protect the blue prince from the queen and her loyal warrior. Fortunately for the warrior with purple tresses, the pink sorceress returned the feelings, so they lived in confusion and divided hearts.

Their paths, too, crossed a lot. At first they'd been fine as the strands of her hair, and just as many, but they were closing off and gathering, merging into one where there had once been two or more, until they, too, arrived at the crossroad where the prince and the witch stood.

The queen, the queen, the queen of green. The warrior's priority, the princess who had been sent from the rival nation to marry the blue prince's sickly little brother and be the puppeteer of the new king. Did she really love that man she shared a bed with, or was it all an act, something hidden under laughing masks?

The dreamer knew the answer, but the others didn't. They'd find out.

With pale blue eyes like ice, she watched, or dreamed the final decision at the path of fate, the last branch they'd have to choose.

_How I do wonder what would happen…._


	3. The Princess

**3. The Princess**

Inspired by: The Korean Movie, Masquerade. Don't ask how. But it was a great movie, and I encourage you to all see it.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Pairing: None.

* * *

_When your silhouette – or rather, the silhouette of your hairstyle – is the thing that lets everyone know who you are, you can't help but wonder if they know you for the real you, or for your famed appearance._

_._

She's a star. A diva. A princess. Number One.

She's also tired. Exhausted. Dried out. Shell-shocked.

Fumbling fingers on trembling hands reach up to the familiar bands that hold her lovely long hair together, and they pull them, tug and tangle and untangle and everything else until she's got them both out of her hair and teal strands are flying everywhere in the wind.

No one recognizes her at first glance.

It might be liberating.


	4. The Peaceful Future

**4. The Peaceful Future**

Inspired by: The Song, _Soon I will be done_

Disclaimer: Oliver - and Iroha's, by default - last name here is Twist. Pardon the pun. I own nothing.

Pairing: OliverxIroha

* * *

A gentle breeze blew past fragrant lilac blossoms, whispering of passionate heat from the sun, promising clear blue skies and happy times, of summer.

An old, wrinkled lady, formerly cherry-blossom pink hair now a frail, silvery white, stood behind wide-open windows, basking in the joy of the children of the heavens, a content smile playing on her chapped lips.

Nothing about her looked like the once-childish and cat-obsessed Nekomura Iroha, except for her bright eyes, still as sharp and searching as it was back when she was young and filled with the power of youth.

But it was. The now-senile singer was past the ages of retirement, living alone in a sunny apartment, content to think back to the happy times, when time was nothing but a name, a word that had little meaning.

If only she'd spent it more carefully, enjoying more time with her loved ones, treasured those overly-played memories.

Now, all she had were photographs and videos of her and her golden-haired husband, showing various age stages and faces until one page, when it was back to her standing alone and lonely, no longer young and no longer married.

To a living person, anyways.

After his death, Iroha had been careful to preserve everything that had been a gift from him, had belonged to him, _reminded_ her of him. She even still had the flowers he had given her on their last anniversary, the jasmines and roses brittle and delicately pressed in between papers, sometimes gently taken out so she could breathe in their musty, faint lingering traces of fragrances.

But mementos didn't bring back dead people. They just reminded you, and the harsh reality, no matter how much she missed Oliver, no matter how much she called to him in her sleep as she tossed and turned from her nightmares, wouldn't change.

Mrs. Twist turned away from the window, feeling that the spring sunshine had kissed her face enough. She started to walk to the kitchen, craving a little nutrition, and paused next to the dusty little shelf where many of her pictures were put.

"Happy anniversary, Oliver," she smiled, stroking the glossy glass covering her favorite picture of him and her, where both stood in their teenage years, him smiling brightly enough to put the sun to shame and her own shy, sweet smile showing her happiness.

There was nothing wrong with missing your loved one. In fact, one would be strange if they didn't.


	5. The Beast

**5. The Beast**

Inspired by: I dunno, Terrestria, I guess.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Pairing: Some sort of vague background LongyaxQingxian.

AN: For St. Patrick's Day. Was originally going to be my one hundredth story, but . . . meh.

* * *

_~and once upon a time, Teto was not a dragon~_

* * *

The sound of hard hooves beating down on the packed dirt around the boneflower canyon reached her ears. Teto kept her eyes closed and her head down, hoping that it was just another crazy donkey or something.

With her luck and her career choice, that was impossible.

"I'll save you, princess!"

Sighing and cursing the witch who had bound her to this tedious, irritating duty, Teto lifted her head lazily. Oh. Another one of those arrogant princes announcing everything they thought with their one, lonely brain cell on their fancy white horses. Yippee.

Seriously, why the continuous stream of princes? Didn't they have better things to do with their lives these days? She knew she had heard about the economy going down in certain regions and white horses cost a lot, even for royals with their heads in the clouds.

The white horse came into view as it entered and galloped down the narrow path of the canyon. Sooner or later the royal weirdo would see her and then . . . .

"What the-" and then a foul curse worthy of a veteran sailor. Oh, just the usual, and if experience spoke truly . . . .

The prince and his fancy white horse reeled away from her as they skidded comically to a halt not too far away from her. Leaping distance for her, actually. This knowledge also came from experience. "A dragon!" the stupid schmuck exclaimed, fumbling for the sword at his side.

Teto growled in irritation and launched herself onto the stupid moron. He screamed, the horse screamed, she snarled and got free lunch.

Just another day as a magical, beastly guard of a cursed princess. Sometimes Teto felt like she was the cursed one instead.

* * *

While sniffing amongst the boneflowers Teto's nose picked out the faint scent of something different. Slight, yes, but her species had always had a superior sense of scent to dragons. She pawed at the source until she had unearthed a green charm.

It was an odd charm. Made out of a green, translucent stone, the thing was shaped like a circle that had been torn into four pieces before being partly attached again. A small fragment remained awkwardly attached in between two of the reattached pieces.

She ate it and was on the verge of going back to sleep when she heard something.

"This is where the princess is imprisoned?"

Teto's ear perked. Voices, and judging from the sounds of feet there were two humans. No horse.

Great. Just what she wanted, the wacky tasting flesh of _two_ humans. At least the horse always balanced the flavours within her mouth when she devoured them. Would it be worth eating them if they didn't have a horse?

Well, it would be if they called her a dragon like every other moron did. Just what did tutors in palaces teach their princes these days, mathematics? Rubbish.

The two stepped into the canyon of boneflowers and walked up to her perch before they actually saw her. "What the-" the taller one said.

Oh, here we go again.

"A chimera!"

. . .

. . .

. . .

What?

"What?" his companion, a feminine looking person who smelt like a male questioned. He had hair like spun gold in the sunset, the kind that normal princesses being imprisoned by dragons were supposed to have.

She was not a dragon. And her princess was not a normal princess.

"This is a chimera," the taller man – now that she hadn't been called a dragon she was seeing details about these two humans other than the white tasty horse that they didn't have for some reason – with oddly styled black and white hair said, crouching towards her with interest and fascination in his green eyes. "A female, and a magnificent specimen of her kind, too."

She purred. Finally, someone who recognized her for what she really was!

"Didn't the villagers say that there was a dragon guarding the cursed one?"

Teto snapped her teeth at the golden-haired girl-boy half-heartedly, not really meaning him harm because of his smart companion. He still backed away uneasily. Cowardly fool.

"Lui, remind me why your cousin let you come in his stead?" the taller one asked, still keeping his eyes on her. Teto rather enjoyed the attention.

The golden-boy looked towards where her princess was. "Because he was busy."

"Mm-hm. Well," and here the boy with the white and black hair stood up again. "obviously the villagers were mistaken, which means that we wasted all that money on buying useless dragonsbane. It was an honour meeting you, Lady Chimera."

She purred and waved her tail as the two of them continued to walk down the path. She didn't know about the girly looking one, but the taller kid was going to go far.

Her guess on his future abilities and how far they would extend was received with quick examples and results. After a few hours the two boys were carefully escorting the princess she'd been protecting down the path of the alley.

Well, that explained why all the boneflowers had been changed into lilacs and roses. The curse had been broken!

The princess saw her and walked up to her. "Teto!" she exclaimed.

She obliged to the girl's whims and wagged her tongue. Why not let her have a little fun, she'd just been freed from her curse.

"Thanks for everything," the purple-haired princess whispered. "You are now free from your duties."

Teto licked her hand – an added service – and curled up amongst the flowers before falling asleep. No more being mistaken for dragons.

Wow. It must have been her lucky day.


End file.
